When I came to Bulgaria in 2002, after nearly six years in the United States, absolutely nothing worked reliably. I had lived on the Balkans before, as a war reporter in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia. But in former Yugoslavia things had worked a lot better, even during the shelling and bombing we endured.

During her visit, Chancellor Angela Merkel met Prime Minister Zoran Zaev and called on Macedonia to finally overcome the name dispute. She said she did not want to interfere in Macedonia's affairs, but knew from experience that historical opportunities did not come along every day.

Driving down the national highway no. 99 from Bulgaria's port city of Burgas towards the south feels good to anyone living in Sofia. It means the boring part of the trip on Trakia Freeway is over and the beaches are already in sight.
Then, after a while it appears out of nowhere. Anyone who sees it on the right will ask the same question: "What…

Uwe Pries, a citizen of the so-called German Democratic Republic (GDR), took a vacation in Bulgaria in the 1980-s. While playing a regular tourist, the young man's intention was to flee to the West via Turkey. He wanted to get out of communist Germany and believed it would be easy to escape via Bulgaria.
He met a friend at the Black Sea coast,…